Panamera Flagship gets go ahead: Porsche confirms fourth model

By
GREG KABLE | BOB GRITZINGER

Aug 7, 2005

After several years of deliberation, Porsche has confirmed plans to build a new four-door sports sedan, the Panamera. Conceived as a “four-door coupe” in the mold of the Mercedes-Benz CLS, Bentley Flying Spur and a forthcoming Volkswagen model, the new Porsche joins the lineup in 2008 as a 2009 model.

With the announcement, Porsche chairman Wendelin Wiedeking confirmed what we’ve been reporting since 2002—that the German automaker has been eyeing a four-door.

“We have taken a lot of time in making the decision (to build the Panamera),” said Wiedeking. “It has all the typical characteristics of a genuine sports car. In terms of performance, design and driving dynamics it meets Porsche’s standards in every respect.”

Porsche says it will invest up to € 1 billion in the Panamera, building it on a unique platform developed wholly in-house at Porsche’s Weissach research and development center. Wiedeking said there are no plans to share all or part of the venture with another carmaker, refuting reports that Porsche was considering linking with VW in a deal similar to the Cayenne/VW Touareg partnership.

AutoWeek sources confirm Stuttgart engineers have already begun testing a revamped version of Porsche’s existing 4.5-liter V8 with a new direct injection system in anticipation of the Panamera. That fits with a model that is described by insiders as a spiritual successor to the front-engined, V8-powered 928 that ended production in 1995.

As with the Cayenne, Panamera is expected to be offered with a choice of a 340-hp naturally aspirated engine or a 450-hp turbocharged unit, with the preference of either standard rear-wheel drive or optional four-wheel drive. Also rumored is a range-topping model running a 500-hp engine based on the Carrera GT’s 5.7-liter V10. There is even talk of a hybrid version of the new four-door, mating a series of electric motors with a gasoline engine. An announcement on Porsche’s hybrid plans is scheduled for next month’s Frankfurt motor show, where the company will also unveil the Cayman S.

The Panamera, a name derived from the legendary Carrera Panamericana race in Mexico, will be assembled alongside the Cayenne at Porsche’s Leipzig factory in Germany. Plans call for annual production of up to 20,000 cars, a figure that promises to push the plant’s yearly production to more than 100,000 for the first time. Pricing for the new flagship reportedly will start at $125,000 and run up to $175,000.

Porsche’s fourth model line (with 911, Boxster and Cayenne—the Carrera GT is a limited edition) harkens back to the 989, an early-1990s prototype intended as the first four-door Porsche ever, with a true back seat. Plans called for a 4.2-liter, all-aluminum water-cooled V8, and for it to be the successor to the 928. Not long into development, the project was canceled due to the extreme development costs and limited number of potential buyers. The prototype, never shown to the public, was destroyed. No known photographs exist.

A Porsche design sketch of the Panamera.

Parts of Project 989 lived on, however. The car’s control arm suspension later appeared on the 993, and its most striking feature, the headlight and taillight clusters, showed up on the 996. The overall styling of the 989 influenced later 911s.

Although reports have circulated for several years suggesting Porsche was considering building Panamera, no doubt the popular trend toward four-door cars with coupe-like styling helped push the argument in Panamera’s favor. Designers from Stuttgart to Tokyo are eyeing designs that incorporate sporty styling with the practicality of four doors. Mazda says its four-door RX-8 is a sports car. Even at Chrysler, with an immensely popular 300C sedan in the stable and room for a Charger coupe, design chief Trevor Creed told AutoWeek he felt a need to create the new Charger with four doors.

“I could have, like the Mustang, done a retro two-door Charger,” Creed said during an interview earlier this year. “In the days of four-door sedans being incredibly boring, the only thing to do was a two-door fastback coupe. Nowadays, with technology and lateral thinking we can do a four-door fastback coupe. That’s the magic formula.”

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